The Overland Track is a popular 65 km, 7-day hike through the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, from Cradle Mountain south to Lake St Clair. I did the hike with friends Ced, Michael and Ollie from 29 March to 4 April 2009.
To conserve the track and its resources, the number of hikers on the track at any time is limited by the Parks and Wildlife Service. We made our booking a few months before and spent the weeks in between doing some training walks up Mt Coot-tha and Mt Warning, buying the right clothes and other gear for a full range of weather conditions, and thinking about how to fit everything into our packs, including enough food for 7-8 days. I started the walk carrying about 27 kg… which was light compared to Ced’s 30+ kg.
The day before the walk, we flew into Launceston where we stayed the night in the Star Hotel, with rooms above a public bar. Dangerous location, when the next day was to involve about 7 hours of walking and climbing, but Ollie kept buying beers, so whatyagonnado? Early the next morning we somehow stumbled across seemingly the only place open for breakfast in Launceston on a Sunday. We wolfed down the last real breakfast we would have for a week, before catching a bus to Cradle Mountain via Devonport. The trip only took about 3 hours and we arrived at the Cradle Mountain visitors centre to overcast conditions. A short shuttle bus ride later, we were at the start of the track at Ronny Creek. We signed the walker register and set off about midday.
The first part of the walk was through some light rain, but it soon stopped. By the time we reached Marion’s Lookout on the Cradle Plateau, about 350 m above our start point, we were in cloud, so we had no view from there, but less than 30 minutes later, as we reached the base of Cradle Mountain, the cloud was clearing. We were the last group of the day to start the ascent, so when we reached the summit, we had it to ourselves and spent a good half hour up there taking photos with, as luck would have it, no more cloud obscuring our view. That was definitely the highlight of the day. When we returned to our packs below, it was about 5 pm and we had about 2 hours of light left to reach the first campsite, and over 2 hours of walking to do according to the guide book. Keen to get tents set up before dark, we powered off along the track and although the profile of this part of the track was mostly flat, I quickly realised how much energy the day’s climbing had taken out of me. After nearly an hour and a half of walking, Ollie, being the fittest, had disappeared ahead and Ced and Michael were about 10-15 minutes behind me. When I saw a signpost up ahead, it lifted my spirits… until I was close enough to read it – 1 hour to Waterfall Valley Hut. What a bitch! Oh well, I kept putting one foot in front of the other, faster now over a constructed boardwalk, and suddenly, about 10-15 minutes later, there was another sign – 30 minutes to Waterfall Valley Hut. Sweet! So it must only be another 15 minutes until I could take this pack off. NOT! It took MORE than 30 minutes for that last leg. I arrived at the hut just before dark, exhausted. The hut was fairly full and smelt a bit funky, so I chose to go and set up my tent near Ollie where some Spotted Quolls were scurrying around. Michael and Ced arrived about 20 minutes later and I joined them in the hut for a meal. We could barely move, and I had no appetite, but we forced some re-hydrated food down, shared a laugh about how hard-core we are and flaked out.
First stop on Day 2 was Barn Bluff – another rocky peak almost as high as Cradle Mountain. The path to Barn Bluff involved backtracking a bit, so we left our backpacks in the hut and carried just day packs. One of my knees was really sore from the day before, so when we arrived at the base of the main climb, I decided to sit it out and watch the others climb… the wrong way… to the summit. Like the day before, the cloud lifted before they reached the top, giving them a great view. My view was ok too, about 100m below them, and because there was very little wind, and only the occasional passer-by, I was enveloped in almost complete silence at times. I could even hear normal conversation from climbers near the top.
After returning to Waterfall Valley Hut, we had some lunch, put the packs back on and headed south along the Overland Track again to the next hut at Lake Windermere. We were the last to arrive at the hut again, but we made it before dark and were greeted by some wallabies. The hut was fairly full, and the weather was fair, so we all set up our tents that night. Unlike the first site, the Windermere site has wooden platforms for tents, which ensures a level surface and helps keep the tent dry and away from leeches. The possums were pretty bold though (and HUGE), coming close, looking for food.
My camera turned itself on in my bag and the battery went almost flat, so thanks go to Michael and Ced for most of the photos from here on…
Day 3 was the longest day of walking with our full packs, and probably had the most diverse range of scenery, from flat grassy plains to thick forests and mossy swamps. My left knee, which was hurting going downhill was complemented by my right knee hurting uphill, so I started favouring one or the other depending on the terrain, but I was ok if the track was flat and I could take long strides. Parts of the track were boardwalks, but much of it was an obstacle course of roots and rocks. I was hobbling when we arrived at Pelion Hut but luckily Ced offered to use his sports medicine superpowers on me. This power involves inflicting pain on the hobbling victim in order to massage huge knots out of leg muscles. Happily, next morning the left knee felt fine and stayed that way for the rest of the week! The right knee stayed a bit sore, but was ok with lots of stretching.
New Pelion Hut is the largest of all the huts along the Overland Track, sleeping up to 36 people, and it was warm with the heater on, so I snapped up a bunk for the first time. There is lots of wildlife here – huge possums were casing out food on the balcony and a few wallabies hopped around the hut while, umm… small mice or rats were actually feeding on the pile of poo and rice husks in the composting toilets. Urgh. The hut was warm and comfortable to sleep in, but there was a snoring convention in session, and any footstep on the wooden floors would wake anyone up. It’s definitely more peaceful in a tent.
At first light, some hikers in the hut had a quick breakfast and were out of there. We figured out that, to save weight, they weren’t carrying tents, so they hurried to arrive first to each night’s hut to claim bunks. We had tents, so there was no rush for us, and it also meant that we could take whatever side-trails we wanted and take our time to reach the huts, which is exactly what we did all week – we were usually the last group in.
About half-way between Pelion Hut and Kiaora Hut is Pelion Gap, which is the highest point of the Overland Track on Day 4. It’s not the highest point of the day though. You can drop your backpack at Pelion Gap and take a sidetrail to Tasmania’s highest peak, Mt Ossa. The first part of this trail climbs Mt Doris where there were some amazing gardens which might as well have been man-made traditional Japanese gardens. Across a small valley is the ascent to the top of Ossa. Close to the top, we had a clear view all around. The summit was in cloud, but we were the highest people in Tasmania for a while.
The rest of the day’s walk was downhill, and as usual, we were the last group to arrive at the hut. Ced’s friend Emil and his group, who started the Track a day after us, had caught up with us as they had to finish the same day as us, so we had some extra company at the camp that night. Cosy too – the site was full, so we had four tents on a small platform, with just enough extra room to sit around and talk crap for a while before crashing for the night.
After Day4′s climbing, everyone felt like an easier day. Luckily Day 5′s walk is a bit shorter, and there are a couple of side trails to waterfalls. On the way there is Ducane Hut, or ‘Windsor Castle’, built by Paddy Hartnett in 1905 as a home and base for his early tourist operations in the area. The hut is leaning now and is supported by wires at the back. We stopped for a while to check out the graffiti and sign the guest book. A bit further along the track, the first side-trail leads to two waterfalls called Fergusson and D’Alton. We took a few photos there and headed on to the next waterfall, Hartnett Falls. The trail arrives above the falls, but we continued down to the bottom and dared each other to swim across the icy pool to a ledge on the other side and back. We all did it, but… a cashew and two raisins.
The new Bert Nichols Hut at Windy Ridge is a larger building than the other huts, but doesn’t sleep as many people as Pelion. Rather than cram in with the snorers, Ced, Michael and I crashed in an enclosed balcony, which was a bit drafty, but comfortable. This hut has a platform outside with a great view of peaks called The Acropolis and The Labyrinth, which we would head towards the next day. The sunset was spectacular.
After a bit of rain through the night, the morning was fine and we watched the early sun hitting the peaks of The Acropolis. That didn’t last long though, and small hailstones fell for about a minute just before we headed back out on the track. For the next couple of hours, it rained a bit, and hailed once more as we took a detour off the main Overland Track into Pine Valley. This was the most photogenic part of our trip, with thick, lush forests, mosses, streams and waterfalls. When we arrived at the Pine Valley Hut early afternoon, other hikers had already fired up the coal stove, so we put on some dry clothes, hung up the wet ones, then had some lunch and a bit of a nanna nap. Pine Valley Hut is the base for climbing The Acropolis and The Labyrinth, but it’s unsafe and pointless to head up there in wet weather, so we used the afternoon to wander to a nearby waterfall and take photos around Pine Valley.
While I was keen to stick to the original plan and spend a day in Hobart, Ced and Michael were considering spending an extra day in Pine Valley to climb The Acropolis and The Labyrinth, but our food was running out and the weather was rather ordinary when we woke up (from 11.5 hours sleep!), so we headed out of the valley towards Narcissus Hut, leaving behind Ollie, who had already planned to spend an extra day there. A couple of hours later, on the way to Lake St Clair, we looked back to see the cloud lifting from The Acropolis – Ollie ended up climbing both peaks in great weather with some other hikers who were at the hut.
Ced’s friend Emil and his group went ahead to Lake St Clair the day before. While we chose the detour to Pine Valley, they chose to walk around the lake rather than ride the ferry. We asked them to book us on the ferry when they passed Narcissus Hut, so we would be on time to meet them at the bottom end of the lake where we were to meet our coach to Hobart. We’re glad we didn’t stay at Narcissus Hut overnight – two of Emil’s group stayed there and had mice scuttling around them all night.
After a 15-minute boat ride, we were in Cynthia Bay where we met up with Emil’s group, had a coffee, dumped our rubbish and heard a very bad review of staying in Cynthia Bay from Anna, whose group had been hiking with us all week. We boarded our charter bus and headed to Hobart – the half-hour detour along a dirt road was a bit weird, but luckily the driver didn’t turn out to be an axe-murderer.
Our first job in Hobart was to shower, then take most of our clothes in the laundry so we wouldn’t kill innocent passers-by with our hiker-stench. We hit Salamanca Place that night for dinner and drinks – real food went down very well. We went back there for breakfast next morning, and spend a few hours checking out the shops and galleries followed by lunch in a cafe in Hampden Road, and a walk down to the harbour past all the original cottages in Battery Point.
We followed the shore around to Sullivan’s Cove, where the Sea Shepherd boat, the ‘Steve Irwin’ was moored, waiting for repairs to its hull which was damaged when it tussled with a Japanese whaling ship recently. When we arrived at the boat, we discovered that they were offering free tours, so we spent a good 45 minutes aboard, getting the low-down on their activities and achievements in stopping the illegal practices of whaling etc.
On our final night, we headed down to Salamanca Place again for a meal, where we bumped into the group of girls who had been hiking with us. Small town. We had some drinks with them, ate at a seafood restaurant at Sullivan’s Cove, and had some more drinks to cap off a great week.
I’d definitely do the Overland Track again, but would try to get the pack weight down a few kilos and do a bit more walking beforehand. We saw people of all ages on the track. Some just took it easy and walked hut to hut, while others, like us, tried to climb every peak and take every side trail. Most people endured some ailment during the week, from blisters to knee-monia to sore backs to smelly clothes to uncontrollable farting, but, surprisingly, none of that detracted from the experience. We reckon that everyone would love it as long as they followed our motto for the trip, donated to us by Ced’s mate Franco: “Why don’t you just eat a bag of cement and harden the fuck up!”